Sunday, November 25, 2007

Gingerbread Time in Tennessee

Perry Como is singing in the background and the red placemats came out of storage. Ahhh...the holiday season has arrived. Take a deep breath and smell the pine, everyone. In just a few days Sean and I will be heading down to the Depot to buy a Christmas Tree. Why does the end of the year always seem to come out of nowhere?

For most of us (the normal ones anyway), the day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Christmas season. But this year the kickoff to my Christmas season came a bit early. Mom's friend Linda hosted her annual Gingerbread House party prior to Thanksgiving rather than the day after, so I've been singing "Deck the Halls" a good week before anyone thought about putting a turkey in the oven.

A Gingerbread House party is the absolute best way to get into the Christmas spirit. Rather than give you all the details (since it's pretty self-explanitory), I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Kelly, Sue, and Janice glue the graham crackers on the foam core frame

Janice lines her roof with gum drops

Linda and mom use royal icing to add candy detials to their gingerbread houses

Linda's husband Phillip prepares egg nog with Bailey's for all the ladies who are hard at work

The Gingerbread Ladies enjoying a great lunch that Phillip prepared for us

My Gingerbread House

Mom, me, Linda, Kelly, Sue and Janice with our Gingerbread houses

If you're interested in hosting your own Gingerbread House Party you'll need to keep a few things in mind:

1. Get organized. Gingerbread houses are very messy.2. Buy lots of candy.3. Pre-cut foam core board for speedy construction4. Supply hot glue, tons of royal icing, and graham crackers5. Have plenty of snacks and drinks - this can take a while...6. The stronger the drink, the better the house